View full sizeStephen Stirling/The Star-LedgerMalcolm Bagley was a standout football star with an ambitious college career ahead of him when he was gunned down Memorial Day weekend on a street in his hometown of Orange. Saturday, more than 100 friends, family and Orange residents came together at a march and rally in hopes of galvanizing the community against violence to prove he didn't die in vain.

ORANGE — Malcolm Bagley was a standout football star with an ambitious college career ahead of him when he was gunned down Memorial Day weekend on a street in his hometown of Orange.

Saturday, more than 100 friends, family and Orange residents came together at a march and rally in hopes of galvanizing the community against violence to prove he didn’t die in vain.

“Malcolm died because a group of cowards drove down a residential street and decided to start shooting at whoever they could,” Bagley’s cousin, Nakia Brown tearfully said at the rally. “We can’t bring Malcolm back, but we can begin to protect the youth of this city.”

Bagley, 19, was shot and killed on Taylor Street in the early morning hours of May 27, shortly after returning home from his freshman year at Dean College in Massachusetts, where he was a wide receiver for the school’s division II football team.

No one has been arrested in the killing, according to Orange police.

Saturday, attendees marched by the location Bagley was killed and held a rally near Orange High School, where he graduated in 2011 as captain of the football team.

His longtime football coach, Terry Boyd, also a Orange High School graduate, said he has seen violence between youths in the community increase in the last couple of years.

“We need to stop the separation we have between kids, the idea that you’re from this side of town and I’m from that side of town so I want to kill you,” Boyd said. “Malcolm reached a lot of hearts and souls, he was a mentor here. I think that’s why you see so many people here today. I think this could be the start of something.”

View full sizeTim Farrell/The Star-LedgerOrange High School defensemen, left to right, Marquise Goods, Daquan Boyd, front, Marquise Monroe, back, and Malcolm Bagley, in this 2009 file photo. Bagley was a standout football star with an ambitious college career ahead of him when he was gunned down Memorial Day weekend on a street in his hometown of Orange.

Bagley was a star as a football player at Orange High School. In his senior year, he scored 11 touchdowns as a wide receiver, earning him a spot on the Star-Ledger All-Essex football second team.

His grandfather, 85-year-old Gordon Roberts, a 1945 graduate of the high school, said he was overjoyed at the turnout to the rally.

“It’s a shame what’s happened in this city recently, to Malcolm. I bleed Orange,” he said. “But we’ve never had anything like this here before, with people coming together like this. Our family wants to see people coming out to help clean up the violence. I’m very happy with the turnout.”

The rally was organized by Not Orange, a group formed after Bagley’s death by his family and members of the community.

“When it comes to something like this you don’t need to do polls or anything like that to know this is what people are concerned about,” said Mayor-elect Dwayne Warren, who has two children under 13. “This hits me as hard as anyone. I’m a father first.”

City Councilman Elroy Corbitt, one of several local politicians to attend the event along with Warren, believes a culture change needs to happen at the community level.

“Folks have to roll up their sleeves and come out to have a positive impact. I think this could be the start of something great,” he said. “Time will tell. But people need to be serious about it. I hope and pray that they are.”

Those interested in joining Not Orange, which will be formulating ideas on how to combat violence, can attend their next meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ebeneezer Baptist Church at 153 William St. in Orange.